Birmingham Superprix
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| Location | Birmingham, England, United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Major events | Formula 3000, British Touring Car Championship, Formula 3 |
| Circuit length | kilometres ( miles) |
| Turns | 7 |
| Lap record | (, , ) |
The Birmingham SuperPrix was a motor racing meeting held on a street circuit at the heart of Birmingham, England, from 1986 to 1990. Until 1989 the principal event was a round of the European Formula 3000 Championship, but support races included BTCC and Formula 3 rounds, as well as sports car racing.
Contents |
[edit] Early Days
The idea of a motor race in the centre of England's second city was mooted in local council meetings as far back as 1966. Stirling Moss obtained permission from Birmingham City Council to hold a race in 1972, but the event never materialised. It was not until 1984 that the council forwarded the Birmingham Road Race Bill to Parliament, where it was passed and received Royal Assent in October 1985. This allowed preparations for the Birmingham SuperPrix to begin. The event was to be centred around a race for Formula 3000 cars, at that time the last step up the career ladder before Formula One. The circuit was laid out on closed streets near the city center, and the meeting was scheduled for two days during the August Bank Holiday.
[edit] The Circuit
The Birmingham SuperPrix circuit was laid down on public roads, just to the south-east of Birmingham City Centre. Slightly unusually the circuit ran anticlockwise.
[edit] 1986
In 1986, the first SuperPrix was held. The circuit was drenched by torrential downpours from the tail end of Hurricane Charley. Being laid out on public roads the circuit was bumpy, and the cars were thrown around badly. The front row was Martini and Sala, followed by Andrew Gilbert Scott. Ivan Capelli span early on, in his green car. Because of long delays, the first race was run at a shorter distance. At every corner there seemed to be someone crashing. The race was red flagged when two cars collided and smashed into the barrier, blocking part of the track, with Sala still fighting for the win. Louis Sala was given the win, and Pierluigi Martini given second, with Michael Ferte taking third.
[edit] 1987
The 1987 race was a complete contrast to the 1986 race. Instead of the track being rain-drenched, it was sun-drenched. Mauricio Gugelmin was on pole, along side Stefano Modena. Later on, Martini was forced to pit with electrical problems, while Roberto Moreno had a tremendous race, having started from the pits after stalling before the warm-up lap. Modena made it his second win of the season, while Moreno took second after his pressure had caused Wallace to make a driving error. After his pole, Guglemin took third place.
[edit] 1988
The 1988 race was also sunny, but had two restarts. The first one was because of a huge accident involving David Hunt, James Hunt's (F1 driver) son. The second one was because of Russell Spence. After his car span, blocking the road, a crane came to move his car. Spence was still in the car, and frantically waving at the crane driver to put his car down facing the right way. The car was lowered, but not in the right place and Spence got out of his car, and then the leaders got caught up in the incident. Roberto Moreno took the checkered flag, with Martin Donnelly and Martini in second and third respectively.
[edit] 1989
The final F3000 race at the Birmingham Superprix was just as sunny as the two previous ones, and in practice Martin Donnelly got lots of attention. After a spin, he abandoned his car, and watched with horror as Erico Chelli t-boned his car. His team worked very hard to get the car repared, and thankfully he started the race. His team mate Jean Alesi fought through out the race with Marco Apicella. It stayed that way at the end, with Alesi beating Apicella by a slender margin. Donnelly came back to finish third.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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